@Dawnaxis
For J-Novel Club light novels, in addition to the other ones people have suggested, perhaps:
Crest of Stars - I haven't made it all the way through these light novels as the prose isn't the easiest going, considering there's a made up language that is translated into Japanese then into English. I think it's good though. I've enjoyed what I have read so far.
I have watched the anime. It's a sci-fi story that has space battles, but the focus is more on culture clash, and what it means to be conquered by an empire.
Redefining the Meta at the VRMMO Academy - This is one of the Sol Press rescues. I think it is a lighthearted fun series with relatively low stakes, and I enjoy reading about the main character's play style. It gets ridiculous, but I like that about it.
WATARU!!! The Hot-Blooded Fighting Teen & His Epic Adventures After Stopping a Truck with His Bare Hands!!
This is a comedy that is not to everyone's taste, but it made me laugh out loud several times. The literary criticism duel was so bad.
For light novels at other publishers:
Cross Infinite World
Obsessions of an Otome Gamer
This is an unfinished series, but I'm glad I read it. It is about a girl who studies piano in a world that resembles a game she used to play.
Yen Press
Interspecies Reviewers
A NSFW series about people who review brothels in a fantasy world.
Non light novels
Probably the best novel I read this year that was not a Japanese light novel was The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is the first novel-length story in her Penric series.
A romance author I like, who doesn't squick me with the tropes is Jackie Lau. I particularly liked The Unmatchmakers. There might be too much food in her books for you to like them. Food is usually incorporated into the plot somehow, for example in the Unmatchmakers, the parents of the romantic leads come up with a ridiculous plan to keep their children from spending time together at the cottage. They say they want smores, and the female lead goes to every store in town looking for graham crackers, where all such crackers have been mysteriously sold out. (The parents bought them.)
Some books that came out a few years ago:
I would also recommend the time travel mystery series starting with The Far-Time Incident by Neve Maslakovic
And also C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series and Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden Universe series in general
